Hemlock Vale Spoiler Season - Part 2

Spoiler season for Hemlock Vale has now come to an end, and we're now waiting for stores to confirm when they'll get their stock in of the new expansion. We've seen a whole host of new cards, including all five new Investigators, and I'm sure everyone out there has decks they're going to be looking to build and try out once the release has happened. There will, of course, still be surprises to come, as not every card has been spoiled before the set has arrived - which is a good thing, as who wants there to be nothing to look forward to when you buy the new box?

Before we look at the new cards, a couple of the questions I had regarding cards in part 1 have been resolved. While I haven't been provided with sources, it appears that Hand-Eye Coordination has been confirmed to only pay for a single action's cost if an ability - such as Sledgehammer - would use multiple actions to resolve something. That seems far more reasonable that making its major strike a completely free action. Also, adding Agility to Agility when using False Surrender on a Hatchet has been confirmed to work, which I'm sure is a relief for Rita.

I maintain that adding something to the FAQ to document these would be a good idea, but we'll see what does get covered in the next update.

Now we've gotten the admin out of the way, now to look at the remaining cards from Hemlock Vale's spoiler season and see what we think...

Guardian - Seeker - Rogue - Mystic - Survivor

Guardian

Previewed by Arkham in the Aether

The first card we're looking at in this article is one I'm not sure about. More Bless support in Guardian is handy, and the double Willpower icons as a commit are a nice bonus, but the core ability is... odd. Adding more Bless tokens to the bag is handy, as is the ability to heal horror from investigators or Ally assets.

However, the split focus on the effect means you're rarely likely to do well out of either aspect. If you're looking to use the cards to add Bless tokens, any Bless (or Curse) tokens you have in the bag already will interfere with the efficiency of the action by diluting the number of non-symbol tokens available to draw. Inversely, the heal aspect is unlikely to do much at the start of a scenario, and even if you max out how many Bless tokens are in the bag, your hit rate is likely to only be around 1 in 3.

The one aspect that can improve the healing later in a scenario is the ability to pay to reveal additional tokens from the bag. Given we're talking about a Guardian card, you might not be able to dump a ton of resources into the action, but it could be worth it if you have a bag full of Bless tokens and several investigators or important Ally cards in need of horror soak at your location. Certainly a very niche application, but it could happen.

Looking outside of Guardian, the fact we're dealing with a level 0 card opens it up to the Dunwich suite of Investigators as an option, though I doubt any of them would take it in their five slots for cards from another class. I don't really see anyone in the pool of Investigators with Guardian 0-2 access ("Skids", Diana, Joe Diamond & Yorick) who might want it, either. The two Investigators who gain access via the Blessed keyword - Father Mateo and Kohaku - might be interested, but there are better Bless cards out there for them to take first, in my opinion.

Previewed by Great Old Ones Gaming

Carrying on with the unusual Bless support, we have Guided by Faith, an Event that allows a stat change on the investigation, adds two Bless tokens to the Chaos bag, and might get an extra clue if you were to draw a Bless or the Elder Sign from the Chaos bag. As with Absolution, there's a lot to unpack there, and while I'm not sure how good Guided with Faith will turn out to be, it does seem to be more reliable than Absolution.

Firstly, let's consider the stat change for the investigation. I've done a quick survey of the Guardian investigators on ArkhamDB, and I only find one where changing the stat is an negative, which would be Carolyn - she actually has a higher base Intellect than she does base Willpower. For everyone else, changing the stat is either neutral (Carson, Roland, Tommy & Wilson) or a benefit in terms of base stat value (Daniela, Leo, Mark, Nathaniel, Sister Mary & Zoey). Given Guardians tend to run Willpower icons for defense against the encounter deck, even Carolyn might find it useful overall.

Secondly, we've got the fixed addition of 2 Bless tokens (assuming you've not already got 9 or 10 in the bag, anyway). No fishing for certain tokens to allow adding them to the bag, which is nice. 2 resources for 2 Bless tokens means this is overshadowed by Keep Faith in terms of efficiency, if your investigator can access it, but then Keep Faith can't let you pick up clues.

Speaking of picking up clues, you have a chance of getting 2 clues for 1 action here, which is unusual for a Guardian card. You probably want about a third of the bag to be Bless tokens for this to be reliable, or use some form of bag manipulation - Favor of the Sun can guarantee it, for example, though you may have better uses for the banked Bless tokens. Still, it would be an option to get Bless tokens over to Nephthys, if not an ideal approach.

Looking at out-of-class Investigators, my general opinion is similar to Absolution for the Dunwich investigators - they have more important cards for their out-of-class slots. I don't see the 0-2 group wanting to use it either, due to base stats and other options. Kohaku should probably consider it, though, but I'm not sure if Father Mateo will want it, given he has Sixth Sense and/or Rite of Seeking if he wants to go gathering clues.

Previewed by Great Old Ones Gaming

Moving over to the other main archetype of the set, and we've got more Parley support. This seems to be designed as the Guardian version of False Surrender, giving you a chance to get an Item into play when you might otherwise be taking an Attack of Opportunity from an enemy. Unlike False Surrender, you're not limited to just playing a Weapon, but you also don't get the action compression of a free attack out of it; instead, you have the opportunity to get the Item for cheaper than normal.

The discount is an interesting one - you're performing a fight action to get a discount depending on how much you succeed by on the test. If you're at a location with an enemy who is fight 1 or 2, most Guardians should get a reasonable discount on their item, off-setting the cost of playing the event in the first place. On the other hand, if the enemy is fight 4 or more the test becomes much trickier, and you may have to commit cards to passing the check. I also don't see why Retaliate wouldn't trigger if you failed the test - at which point you've paid a resource to get the attack you were hoping to avoid, while still not getting the Item into play.

Assuming Normal difficulty, in most early scenarios you probably want to be trying this test at 2-3 over the difficulty to have good odds of passing the test, or 4-5 to be left with just the auto-fail to worry about (while likely getting a good discount on the Item you try to play). This could mean you end up with Hold Up stuck in your hand until you find a good opportunity to play it - and you need to time that moment to include an Item you'll get the benefit of a decent discount on - Hunter's Armour, say, or Runic Axe.

Unlike the previous two spells, I can see use cases for this card with more out-of-class investigators as well, though they need a good Fight stat to make decent use of it. From the 0-2 Guardian group, Joe and Yorick have a good enough fight value and may want to play a range of Items through it - I think the Fight 3 of Diana and "Skids" robs it of reliability, unfortunately. I don't think this rates highly enough for the Dunwich group to take it in their five out-of-class slots. Despite her Trick access, Rita falls in the same group as Diana and "Skids" for me. Despite being Fight 3, Vincent might be able to get use out of this, depending on how he can organise his use of On the Mend as a "free" boost to the test.

Previewed by Little Geek

At this point in the spoiler season, Strong-Armed appears to be one of the stars of the new set for Guardians. While you can only get it at full power while using Melee or Ranged assets - which does not include Firearms, but does include certain grenades - I'd argue that the secondary effect still makes it worth considering for a Firearm build.

For 1XP, you're getting a restricted version of the 0XP Vicious Blow - without replacing that Skill - but also the ability to take damage to redraw Chaos tokens from the bag. Bag manipulation (outside of adding or removing Bless tokens) isn't something that Guardian has typically had access to to date, and being able to dismiss that autofail when it turns up on a critical test is a big benefit. With the right Investigator/deck - looking at you, Tommy - taking damage can even be useful, especially as this isn't direct damage.

I can only think of one Guardian where taking Strong-Armed is not at least worthy of consideration, if I'm very honest, especially when Runic Axe is such a common choice these days - the only exception I'd make to that would be Nathaniel Cho, given he is usually making basic Fight actions or using events, rather than weapons. I'd certainly make the argument that the Chaos bag redraw means it is worth looking at even for a build using Firearms instead of Melee or Ranged weapons.

Outside of Guardian, there are several Investigators with access to this card, either from a class or keyword perspective. Of the three Investigators who get access by picking a class, I don't see Gloria seeking out this skill, but both Charlie and Tony could well consider it. I've not tried building Subject 5U-21 yet, so I don't know how Suzi would use it, and I'm in a similar position with Lola, though I don't see it as a Guardian card she'd take.

I can see an argument for taking it for any other the other Investigators with access, though - that'd be Skids, Diana, Hank (more on his deckbuilding later), Joe Diamond, Lily, Silas, Vincent and William Yorick. Lily is a pseudo-Guardian anyway, and is actively prohibited from taking Firearms, so this is definitely a good fit for her. Silas is an interesting fit with this card - in theory, he could redraw one test a round repeatedly until he would pass without Strong-Armed then, if he doesn't need the damage on the attack, return it to his hand. I'm not saying all of these Investigators should take Strong-Armed, but I would say they should all think about it.

Previewed by Quick Learner

The Mask cards are a powerful addition to the Arkham Horror card pool, and I'm not going to be surprised if we see some of them hit the Taboo list at some point down the line. A cheap, reusable, slotless stat boost that gains additional offerings by doing something you were planning on doing anyway? What's not to like?

I do like the restrictions that do remain on the Masks, though - you're limited to only having one in play at a time (though, in theory, you could include multiple in your deck), and you can only use the bonus once per test, preventing you from going for a blow out on a single test per turn.

Wolf Mask is going to be one of the first cards to think about in Guardian decks once Hemlock Vale is out, and the only reason I say "think about" rather than "include" is that the second stat bonus is for Agility - I'd've preferred to see Willpower there, but Mystic seems to have gained what I'd consider the usual pair of stats for Guardian boosts. 

While nigh-free Agility boosts are nice when facing the encounter deck, most Guardians are on a poor starting point for Agility tests - a quick survey of ArkhamDB (again) shows only three Guardians with a base Agility greater than 2, with those being Mark, Sister Mary and Wilson. Generally speaking, boosting a strong stat is more useful than trying to shore up a weak one, so in most cases I'm not sure people will be wanting to use the Agility boost to try to pass tests, but more to reduce how much they fail by - if they choose to use the boost at all.

The trigger for generating new offerings works nicely for Guardians, and can see someone like Zoey double-dipping on the benefits of engaging an enemy. This is one of the easier Masks to recharge, probably second only to Survivor's Sparrow Mask (which was shown in the FFG announcement post for Hemlock Vale) - assuming the scenario has enemies, your Guardian is likely to be engaging them one way or another, and thus getting new offerings on their mask.

Out-of-class, I can see a "Skids" combat deck preferring this to the Rogue Mask, given it boosts two of his three strongest stats. Diana probably wants the Mystic Mask for the Willpower boost, while Joe could run either this or the Seeker Mask, depending on the preference of the deckbuilder. Yorick definitely likes this, probably over Sparrow Mask. I wouldn't be surprised by a combat Jenny build wanting to include the Wolf Mask, either, though I don't think it would be in favour for the other Dunwich investigators. As a Charm, you could run this in Amina, but I suspect she prefers the Doom-based nature of the Mystic Mask.

Seeker

Previewed by Northern Lights Over Arkham

I'm honestly not sure if the art and flavour text here is meant to refer to Dr. West's experiments, or his attempt to smuggle a huge stack of books out of whichever library he's at here - probably Miskatonic, going by the original Lovecraft story regarding the character. I suspect the librarian here is going to Confound Herbert, and prevent him from doing whatever he's up to this time.

So, what do we get out of Confound for 3XP and 2 resources? Well, we get a Parley action we can use to safely gather two clues, while also potentially evading a non-Elite enemy at your location, whilst also locking said enemy down for another turn. In a way, it feels like what you get if you put the 2XP versions of Breaking and Entering and Slip Away into a blender, sieve out a couple of lumps, and add the usual Seeker secret sauce. You don't get the benefit of a second stat to make the test with, you can't over-succeed by a lot to bounce the card back to your hand, and the automatic evade is restricted to non-Elite; on the other hand, you're testing what's normally a Seeker's best stat against the enemy's evade value, and getting a second clue by default.

With the exception of Amanda - who has mitigating circumstances - every Seeker starts with an Intellect of 4 or 5. Looking at the enemy pool, enemies who have evade 4 or 5 are pretty rare, especially on non-Elite enemies, so even without anything in play to support your check, you are likely to have a bonus on the test. Add the usual Seeker support tools for Intellect bonuses, and you should be well ahead of the test.

Let us not forget that you don't have to be engaged with an enemy to use this, so Aloof enemies are valid targets, as are those engaged with another investigator. It can also be used to evade an Elusive enemy, allowing someone of a combat bent to deal with them without the possibility of them legging it.

Given this is an Insight event, it's worth considering to pop into Joe's "hunch deck", where he'll be able to play it without paying any resources for it. It's a nice bit of clue-gathering for Joe and, as mentioned, gives him an option to deal with an Elusive enemy. Looking outside of Seeker, there are a few Investigators who can run this, despite it being level 3. Alessandra can use it as her free action in the round, and has the Intellect to make it work - as does Monterey Jack, who likes the action compression of getting two clues and an evade in one action. Rita Young could take it, but with her Intellect of 2 it doesn't feel like a reliable took for her arsenal.

Previewed by Will.I.Game

I'm going to repeat myself from Wolf Mask here - a cheap, reusable, slotless stat boost that gains additional offerings by doing something you were (probably) planning on doing anyway? What's not to like? 

I doubt any Seeker is going to turn down an on-demand +2 Intellect, and Willpower is normally a good bonus to have on tap, too - we've all had that moment where exactly the wrong encounter card turns up, and we're suddenly facing a tricky Willpower test to avoid taking quite the kicking. I only count three Seekers with less than 3 Willpower (Amanda, Joe and Kate), at which point I tend to view the bonus as an almost-free "lose less" boost rather than a "win more" boost. I suspect both Harvey and Norman are going to be especially keen on this, given their base 4/5 Willpower/Intellect.

The recharge condition for Seeker is trickier than the Guardian or Survivor ones, and I suspect the ease of triggering it is going to vary by group size - as well as by how late in the scenario you get this into play. In solo play, for example, every location becomes an opportunity to recharge your Mask - and you're probably spending less charges clearing the clues off them, too. Once you're up to 3 or 4 players, however, you are likely to find other investigators revealing locations while the Seeker is a spot or two behind, spending more actions to grab all the clues.

Looking out-of-class, and starting with the Dunwich crowd, both Jim and Jenny may want to consider this Mask, especially if Jenny is leaning more towards gathering clues than combat. Zoey and "Ashcan" would appreciate the Willpower side of things, and "Ashcan" may see Duke benefit from the Intellect boost, but it is probably a lower priority.

For the Investigators with 0-2 Seeker access, I think Darrell and Trish would be happy with the Intellect boost, but have a low starting point for the Willpower side of things. Roland would appreciate both sides of the boosts, especially with his low Sanity - and he is likely to be barging into new locations to recharge it, too. While not a 0-2, Carolyn may want to consider this Mask over the Guardian one, as the boosts are to her better stats.

The stand-out Investigator for this mask, though, seems to be Luke Robinson - both stat boosts line up nicely for him, and he can use his Gate Box to trigger the recharge condition whenever he likes, so long as he can keep the box charged. If the Dream-Gate isn't in play, even his weakness will trigger the recharge condition on this mask - frankly, the mask should be one of the first cards in a Luke deck once Hemlock Vale has released.

Previewed by Quick Learner

Here we have another example of those glorious moments where the art, title and flavour text of a card all line up perfectly - even if I'm sure there are plenty of people who would rather not see a giant spider in their hand.

Fight actions in Seeker are an interesting topic. They need to be useful, in case someone is looking to play a solo Seeker, but they also shouldn't outclass a Guardian in their area of expertise - especially on a 0XP card. Once we start seeing XP spent on a card, the value can improve, but there's a floating question as to whether something like the combat version of Strange Solution is just good, or whether it is overtuned (especially if used without the taboo).

This particular Fight card is one I think is a bit more reasonable. It requires a deck with enough Tome cards in it to have at least one reliably in play when you want to use it, and while it gives a bonus to accuracy it isn't a crazy one. Looking at the array of available Tomes - especially the 0XP ones - you're looking at +1-3 to the test. Given that only two Seeker investigators (Joe & Vincent) start with a Combat stat of 3 or more, so odds are your Seeker will end up at a skill of around 3-5 if using this at the start of a campaign, excluding other skill boosts.

The side effects of a successful attack are handy - if you didn't kill the enemy, you can automatically evade it, or you can take an action off your target Tome if you did eliminate them. The evade not having a non-Elite restriction is useful, as this feels like the sort of effect we might see that on in other classes. I'm not sure how many of the Tomes have a high resource cost and an action you'd want to trigger in this sort of situation, though I do like the idea of using Esoteric Atlas to get the heck out of dodge after knocking someone out with it.

Outside of Seeker, I'm not sure there are many cases for a Tome-based deck, though Mystic certainly has a few options in that regard, even if quite a few cost XP. Because of that restriction, it's tricky to see where you'd recommend someone from out of the class would take it. As with the Mouse Mask, Luke might be a solid option, if you were willing to figure out a Tome-based build for him.

Rogue

Previewed by Arkham Horror LCG Reddit

I'm going to repeat myself from Wolf Mask here - a cheap, reusable, slotless stat boost that gains additional offerings by doing something you were (probably) planning on doing anyway? What's not to like? Well, the wording on the recharge condition could be a touch clearer, but we'll touch on that in more detail a bit.

As with the other Masks we've seen, the primary stat for the class - Agility, in this case - gets a boost, coupled with a stat that maybe isn't quite so highly valued by all the Investigators in the class. Some of them, such as Trish, Alessandra and Finn, who are high in both Agility and Intellect, will absolutely love the benefits this card brings. Others, such as Kymani, Preston and Tony, will find one of the boost options less useful - though almost everyone bar Preston will be able to make use of one of them.

The wording on the recharge condition is a little woolly, with two ways of reading it that appear valid. Firstly - and probably correctly - is the read that translates to your Investigator moving out of a location that has an enemy on it and leaving the enemy there, either because they're engaged with someone else, they're Aloof or you (or someone else) have already evaded them. The second reading, which would render this mask much weaker, is that it only triggers if you move out of a location and fetch the enemy along for the ride. I'm pretty sure it is the first one, but it probably would hurt for FFG to clarify at some point.

Looking out-of-class, from the Dunwich crew there's only really Rex who might consider this one instead of his in-class mask. He can get an Intellect bonus of either, so it comes down to whether you prefer Willpower or Agility bonuses with him - and whether you think it is important enough to use for his out-of-class slots. "Ashcan" might consider it to give Duke a benefit on sniffing out clues, but the Agility bonus would be going to waste, so I suspect it is unlikely.

From the group of Investigators with 0-2 Rogue access, Dexter and Leo have too low base stats to get good mileage out of both sides of the mask, so I can't see it making it into their decks over an in-class mask. Wendy, on the other hand, has 3 and 4 for Intellect and Agility, respectively, meaning she could well get mileage out of both sides of the mask. 

While not a 0-2 Rogue, Amina can grab the mask given it is a Charm - given it doesn't boost Willpower, though, I doubt it is a priority for her. From Edge of the Earth, Bob Jenkins might consider it, given he starts with 3/4 on Intellect and Agility.

Previewed by Arkham in the Aether

Curses and resource generation seems to be a bit of a thing - one of the cards people tend to recall from the Curse part of The Innsmouth Conspiracy is Faustian Bargain, after all. Whether this ends up being a common theme over more cards in Hemlock Vale is tricky to say, but Scrimshaw Charm certainly provides support for that concept.

As the name suggests, this is a Charm card, taking up the Accessory slot on your Investigator. At only 1 resource to play, that cost will be covered the first time you use the ability, though it will take a couple of uses for this to pay off more than an Emergency Cache would. Of course, if you're playing a Curse deck, then Emergency Cache isn't going to help you keep the bag topped up now, is it?

Does a return of one-and-a-bit resources per Curse token seem reasonable? Yes, especially on an item where you can make use of the ability repeatedly rather than just as a one-off, like the Bargain. As the adding of Curse tokens is a part of the cost of the action, you won't be able to use this Charm if the bag already has all ten Curse tokens in it - might not come up often, but worth keeping in mind when planning your turn.

Given this is an Accessory slot item, it does clash with certain Rogue staples - even at 0XP, Crystallizer of Dreams and Lucky Cigarette Case are two popular Accessory items, and as XP comes into play Eon Chart and The Red Clock make themselves known. Without bring Relic Hunter into the conversation, you're going to want to be sure that the resources and Curse tokens from this Charm more than offset the card draw or event recycling that you'd be losing access to - and, in the right deck, this may very well be the case!

Will anyone be looking to take this outside of Rogue? An interesting question. A Curse-based Rex build might consider it, to keep the bag topped up without jumping through too many hoops. Zoey would no doubt prefer her cross, while Jim probably doesn't want to dilute the bag, as he wants those Skull tokens. "Ashcan" might consider it, but I'm not sure whether a Curse build would work in Survivor. As is often the case, though, I think the Dunwich crowd have more important cards for their out-of-class options.

Bob Jenkins might consider this to help him continue paying for everybody's items, especially if he takes other cards that rely on Curses as he spends XP. A Curse build for Dexter could also make good use of this, both to help pay for switching assets around and to give his Curse tokens. Leo might appreciate it to help with his economy, but Guardian works better with Bless than with Curse. As with Zoey, Wendy has her own special Accessory that she's like to see in play rather than this. Parallel Wendy, might be interested, given she needs Bless and/or Curse tokens to power her ability, but I imagine she'd want Relic Hunter pretty quickly in that case.

Previewed by Rolling Dice and Taking Names

Support for the Parley build that doesn't specifically involve a Parley action? I'm intrigued, especially on a card that looks to be another title/art/flavour text combination win.Talk to someone nicely, establish a rapport, slip them a few coins and learn a bit more than expected about what's going on nearby. At the time of writing, I can only think of one Parley player card that doesn't require interaction with an enemy or other investigator, and that's Speak to the Dead.

So, how is Snitch in terms of value? For 2XP and 1 resource, you can grab two clues from your location or a connecting one, though only when you've passed a skill test during a Parley action. Aside from eliminating Speak to the Dead as a valid trigger for Snitch - so the dead can keep their lips sealed, after all - this is a really nice benefit for a Parley deck, allowing them to cheaply get around high Shroud values and save on actions at the same time.

As long as you've got access to Snitch, and you're running a reasonable number of cards with Parley checks on them, I would say this is definitely a card to consider adding into your deck, even if you weren't intending to be a primary clue-gatherer. A flex or support deck can help out with this without losing tempo, which is great, and it isn't going to break the bank while doing so.

Aside from Alessandra, with her wide access to Parley cards, we really need to see how the rest of Hemlock Vale shakes out in giving other classes Parley access before we can really predict which out-of-class decks are going to benefit from taking this. Going by Ancient Evils' visual spoiler for Hemlock Vale, Rogue has seen the bulk of the previewed Parley support, with Guardian, Mystic and Survivor only getting one card each (at time of writing) that would be a valid trigger for Snitch.

Snitch does combine well with Eldritch Tongue, allowing you to get two uses per copy of the event without needing any other recursion. Of course, if you're running tools to allow you to retrieve it from your discard pile to add to your hand or shuffle into your deck, so much the better - two uses is nice, but more is better.

Previewed by Rolling Dice and Taking Names

Stir the Pot interests me, even though I think it has too high an XP cost for what it delivers. For 3 cost, you get a safe way to damage all enemies at your location, with the opportunity to disengage and scoot away after you've triggered the carnage. In a way, it's the Health and Safety version of Dynamite Blast or Storm of Spirits, but where the only downside is "it didn't work" not "you exploded your fellow investigators".

In terms of the effect, I quite like it. The main downside is that you can't guarantee how much damage you're going to do, but there are enough 1/1, 2/0 or 0/2 damage/horror enemies out there that I think that's a reasonably reliable minimum - and in the right scenario, with the right enemy, you could well be seeing 3 or 4 damage done. The option to disengage and move away is the cherry on the top, really - just in case anyone didn't fall for your trickery, you're not there for them to deal with afterwards.

The resource cost is more than reasonable, being on par with either version of Storm of Spirits, and cheaper than any version of Dynamite Blast. Honestly, though, I'd've been happy with a higher resource cost and a lower XP cost - if we look at the other 5XP Rogue cards, while there aren't any exact parallels, I don't really think this card measures up to them. That list does highlight a card that would run well alongside this, though, and that's the 5XP Chuck Fergus - making this fast, 2 resources cheaper and/or giving +2 to the test would make Stir the Pot really appealing, but not enough to be sinking 20XP into two copies of each.

I won't be surprised if we see this on the taboo list in a couple of years, having the XP cost reduced, and possibly seeing the resource cost increased - adjust both to 4, for example, as a starting point. Then again, there may be something else in Hemlock Vale we've not seen previewed that makes this seem better. I also wouldn't be shocked to find a lower XP version which only lets you pick damage or horror, and/or doesn't let you move away afterwards, for example.

Previewed by Northern Lights Over Arkham

Finally for Rogue in this article - and for Parley, for that matter - we have a 3XP version of Vamp, a card we looked at in part 1. I liked the basic version as a flexible toolbox of a card, where you wouldn't be looking to take it for any specific effect, but for the flexibility it offers by allowing you to pick one of four effects instead. This upgraded version looks at that toolbox, and decides that every tool can be used in sequence, with no downside for failure.

At 3XP, it is a hefty upgrade, but the resource cost says the same, it picks up an extra Wild icon if you need to commit it to another check, and the test to achieve each effect gets easier. That's all before we consider the action compression of having one card allow you to remove Doom from an enemy, grab a clue, damage an enemy and/or evade it (and move it away from you if non-Elite). While none of those abilities have improved from the base version of the card, being able to do all four of them if you need to is really quite special.

Given we looked at Snitch a couple of cards back, Vamp (3) makes a great trigger for it if there are several clues at your location (or connecting ones) that need cleaning up. The other obvious synergy here is with Fine Clothes, given all four checks drop to difficulty 0 whilst you're in your glad rags - so as long as the auto-fails stays away, whichever tests you want to do will succeed.

While most people who could splash Vamp (0) into their deck as an out-of-class card miss out on the upgrade, there are a couple of notables who may wish to consider it. It sits just within Rita's range of Trick cards, though whether she wants to make use of it is a wider question - she should pass the Agility check easily enough, but without Fine Clothes or some commits, the others may prove tricky. I could see a Parley deck for Bob Jenkins, though, absolutely factoring this into his plans - he'd enjoy wearing a nice suit, I'm sure.

Mystic

Previewed by El Mito del Caos

I'm going to repeat myself from Wolf Mask here - a cheap, reusable, slotless stat boost that gains additional offerings by doing something you were - or, in this case, might've been - planning on doing anyway? What's not to like?

Cat Mask isn't quite the slam dunk that Wolf Mask appears to be, mainly due to the recharge condition. Unless you're running a Doom deck, in many scenarios you'll only be able to recharge this card the first time Doom is added to an Agenda, though at least you get both charges back rather than only one. Depending on the scenario, this would often limit you to only a couple of recharges per scenario.

Given Mystic have a Doom archetype, the right deck can certainly get this recharging more often. A deck running Sin-Eater, for example, alongside other cards which get Doom placed upon them can repeatedly reset cards - including itself - down to no Doom before adding more to them, allowing this Mask to recharge more reliably. Heck, even playing an Arcane Initiate to hunt for a spell now has the side effect of placing more offerings on here.

As I mentioned back on Wolf Mask, I see the Willpower/Combat nature of the bonus options here as more iconic for Guardians than I do Mystics - I'd certainly expect Willpower on the Mystic Mask, but probably a different secondary stat. Mystic does have a wider pool of Investigators with Combat 3 or higher, with seven investigators qualifying for that title (Akachi, Amina, Dexter, Diana, Jim, Kohaku & Lily). Of that group, Lily probably benefits the most from the Combat boosts, while all of them definitely appreciate a flexible Willpower boost. Whether you want to run any Doom cards with Lily, at least, is another matter entirely.

From an out-of-class perspective, and starting with the Dunwich crowd, I could see Zoey considering it over the Guardian Mask, as she gets work out of both stats with a 4 in each as a base value. Jenny might consider it, depending on build, but I doubt Rex or "Ashcan" would. In terms of those with 0-2 Mystic access, a slotless Willpower boost is nice for Patrice, and Improvised Weapon does give an use for the Combat boost. Sister Mary likes both boosts, but is probably not running the Doom cards to recharge it frequently. Sefina and Daisy both appreciate the Willpower boost, but don't care for the Combat bonus.

Survivor

Previewed by Great Old Ones Gaming

Given we got to see Kate Winthrop's backside last time out, this time we get to see Hank Samson's rear. If you're wondering about the rest of Hank's kit, that's presented in the FFG announcement article for Hemlock Vale. In general, Hank is an interesting character - his first phase face card only has 5 health and sanity, yet he can tank for other Investigators. Where things get wild is once he has taken enough damage or horror to kill a normal Investigator or drive them insane - at that point, he progresses to one of two second stage forms, depending on what fits the group's needs best at the time. He can't be healed after that point, but ends up with either a quite balanced set of stats, or a combat-heavy set - I can't think of another Investigator with a printed 6 Combat.

Looking at the back of Hank's card, a couple of things immediately leap out at me - firstly, he has a deck that's a bit larger than most Investigators, at 35 cards. While we do have Investigators out there with larger decks, such as Patrice and Mandy, that's normally to balance out their abilities. The only think I can think of that they're trying to balance here is his larger health/sanity pool, as depending on which second form he shifts to he is effectively almost a 9/11 or an 11/9. His stat spread is a little high in his second stage, too, with 14 stat points.

My second observation is the lack of a fixed second class, though Hank is not unusual in that regard in Hemlock Vale. I do think his restriction to ten cards total from his keyword access feels a little stingy in a 35 card deck, but I'm willing to see what a Hank deck looks like before I make a final call on that. Speaking of his keyword access, Innate offers up a range of skill cards from every class, while Spirit tends to be events from Guardian and Mystic.

Looking at the options, it's a little tricky to boil down to 10 cards. If your plan is to normally go into Assistant mode with Hank, then Savant becomes an interesting option, giving three Wild icons to any test Hank makes. The 2XP Developed versions of Guts would also be worth considering,as might Daring (given that Overpower is Practiced, not Innate). I'd normally include Steadfast in the mix here, but Hank needs to be unharmed to get the top level benefit out of it, and I don't see that lasting too long in a scenario. 

On the Spirit side of things, a lot of Nathaniel Cho's cards become available - "Get over here!" seems a good fit at either XP level, as does the 2XP version of "I've had worse...", given you're cancelling damage/horror instead of healing it. Counterpunch and One-Two Punch give some valuable attack options, while Ward of Protection is always handy to have around on encounter deck defense.

Previewed by Great Old Ones Gaming

Pelt Shipment is an odd card. It is a - cost asset, meaning you can't play it, that sits in your hand and effectively blocks four slots (itself, plus the three it reduces your maximum hand size by). and in exchange you get to reduce the XP cost of the next new card you purchase before your next scenario by 1.

Touching on the last point first, it looks like this XP can't be used when upgrading a card, but only if you're bringing in a new card in place of something else. We've seen a number of cards which give discounts on upgrading before - see Arcane Research and Down the Rabbit Hole for two examples - but this is the first card I can think of where you get a discount on new cards instead.

I'm really not sure what I think of this card, in all honesty. I know I never want to run it in Patrice, that's for sure, given her reduced hand size, unless you were setting up some way to get it back into her hand on the last turn of the game from the discard pile. Resourceful would make that possible, I guess, as would Scavenging or Scrounge for Supplies, and it isn't like it is hard for Patrice to get cards into the bin.

If you're planning a build that's going to use new cards ahead of upgrading existing cards, then I'd say one copy of this is worth considering. I don't see the value in running two copies, though, and I'd certainly be considering Cornered as a way to make use of the card in the meantime, as the hand clog it causes is a definite concern. Another card for the "Situational" pile, I guess.

Previewed by Great Old Ones Gaming

I quite like Persistence - it isn't a flashy card, by any stretch of the imagination, it just puts its head down and gets on with the job. You get half an Unexpected Courage - without the 1 per test limit - when played from hand, and the other half on a different test later from the discard pile, which then causes Persistence to get shuffled back into your deck.

I like the idea of this, as it fits quite nicely with the likes of Improvised Weapon, Winging It, etc - could very easily end up in a situation where you're cycling cards back into the deck fast enough that you don't end up having to shuffle your discard pile back into your deck. Certainly doable with a standard one-card-per-turn Investigator, but the challenge would be managing that for more than a turn or two with Patrice.

Speaking of whom, this does make good fuel for Cornered - if I've followed the timing right, discard Persistence to Cornered for +2, then use Persistence's own ability to get a further Wild icon on the tests, then shuffle it back into the deck at the end of the test. Might be a touch of a corner case, but it might save a more useful card from being used for this.

My question mark against this is whether the split bonus and the shuffle-it-back-into-your-deck is worth 1XP per copy. I get why it isn't 0XP, but I wonder whether 1XP Myriad might've fitted better. Definitely one to try out at some point, though.

Previewed by Little Geek

As opposed to the last two cards, Survival Technique is one of my favourite new Survivor cards I've seen during spoiler season. A 2XP Science Talent with one highly-useful free ability and one deck-dependent free ability, using this doesn't mess with your tempo once you've got it in play.

The second part is going to be useful in every almost scenario, as there's almost always a location with a test on it. Cards like Locked Door have been around since the original core set, frustrating players who can't make a Combat or Agility test at difficulty 4 reliably. While the boost from Survival Technique might not always be enough to get you past these checks on its own, a free +2 certainly makes dealing with these a lot easier.

The first ability relies on your build - if your deck doesn't contain any cards that attach to locations, you're not going to get much mileage out of it. However, if you have cards you want to attach to a location for now, but would like the ability to grab it later and move it elsewhere, being able to do so as a free action is usually a better deal than the usual action cost - see The Skeleton Key, for example, where you could retrieve it for a free action instead of the printed action cost. Some cards, like Shortcut (2), don't normally give you the ability to pick them up and move them around, and Survival Technique can help you get around that limitation (though you'll have to pay the resource cost to replay it later).

One combination I like the look of is Survival Technique and Open Gate, quite possibly in Patrice, especially in a Willpower/Agility build that uses Track Shoes, too. Run around, drop a gate where needed and bounce back to the group, only to scoop up that gate and reposition it as required. It seems like fun.

I think this is a solid card to include for anyone with 0-2 Survivor access, even if just for the secondary ability. It might not be one of your first upgrades, for sure, but it is one to think about. From a keyword perspective this becomes an option for Kate Winthrop, the new Seeker. As previously noted, being able to grab Shortcut (2) is nice, she can drop a clue onto it from her character ability, and it powers up Well-Funded. If you think one boost per round isn't enough, you could always do some Fine Tuning of your technique, and have it ready once you've used it...